Freezing The Toddler

A couple of weeks ago, Drew grew out of his first real pair of shoes.  A little size 5 pair of tan tennis shoes he has had since August.  I didn't quite know what to do with them.  Sentimentality prevented me from putting them in the Deseret Industries (local charity) pile, yet reason prevented me from putting them in my cedar chest (with too many other outgrown clothes I just can't seem to part with for one reason or another...)  Instead the little outgrown shoes sat on a bench in the garage awaiting their fate.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, I passed the little brown tennis shoes as I made my way to the car with a bag of things for the DI.  As I loaded the bag into the back of the car, I pondered out loud, "Should I keep Drew's old shoes or not?"  Mike from the driver's seat loudly stated a bold, "NO" before I was even finished with the question.  As Megan turned around to look at me, she said wisely, "Think about some little boy wearing them who might really need them."

And so tossing aside all my DI opinions (I really should air those one day...), I grabbed the nearby shoes that have carried Drew's little feet for months and tossed them into the back of the suburban.  Realizing there are plenty of memories I can keep that don't collect dust, or take up room in the already-hard-to-close cedar chest.

This afternoon, I watched Drew snuggle up with Mike and I verbalized out loud the stark realization, "My baby is almost TWO! TWO YEARS OLD!"  Mike absolutely loves the 2-4 age range, and so he answered, "Can't wait!"
It left me with mixed feelings.

Though I love the ease in which day to day life carries on without a little baby around,  I certainly have mixed feelings with each passing day, as my life gets further away from the baby stage.

My baby is almost TWO!
Where has/is the time going?
Freeze time freeze!